3 JESUS THE KING

JESUS
THE KING

Two weeks ago, we considered Jesus as the Prophet, the One who spoke for God, the One who spoke the words God put into His mouth, the One who spoke God’s words and only God’s words. We saw He did not speak one syllable that was not God’s word. Last week we considered Him as the Priest, the One who represents God’s people before God, making propitiation for the sins of the people and thus securing pardon and justification for them, no matter how great and how many their sins may have been, and “ever living to make intercession for them” and thus making them secure against all the wiles of the Devil, keeping them from falling and even when they do fall, restoring them by His intercession with the Father to communion with God.

Today we are to consider Him as THE King, not as A King, but THE King, “King of Kings,” and “Lord of Lords,” the King of whom all earthly Kings, even the wisest and best and most potent are but faint symbols and shadows. Again I have seven texts:

Psa 2:6-12: “Yet I HAVE SET MY KING UPON MY HOLY HILL OF ZION. (7) I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto Me, THOU ART MY SON; THIS DAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE. (8) Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. (9) Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. (10) Now therefore be wise, O ye Kings: Be instructed, ye Judges of the earth. (11) SERVE JEHOVAH with fear, and rejoice with trembling. (12) KISS THE SON, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that take refuge in Him.”

Psa 72:7-8: “In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more. (8) He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”

Jer 23:5-6: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I WILL RAISE UNTO DAVID a righteous branch, and HE SHALL REIGN AS KING and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (6) In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and THIS IS HIS NAME whereby He shall be called: JEHOVAH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Dan 7:13-14: “I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, THERE CAME WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN one like unto (the) SON OF MAN, and He came even to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. (14) And THERE WAS GIVEN HIM DOMINION, and glory, and A KINGDOM, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him: HIS DOMINION IS AN EVERLASTING DOMINION, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Mat 26:63-64: “But Jesus held His peace. And the High Priest said unto Him, I adjure Thee by the Living God, that Thou TELL US WHETHER THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. (64) Jesus saith unto him, thou hast said: Nevertheless I say unto you, henceforth ye shall see THE SON OF MAN sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Luk 19:12: “He said therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country, TO RECEIVE FOR HIMSELF A KINGDOM, AND TO RETURN.”

Rev 19:11-16: “And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He that sat thereon CALLED FAITHFUL AND TRUE; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. (12) And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He hath a name written which no one knoweth but He Himself. (13) And He is ARRAYED IN A GARMENT SPRINKLED WITH BLOOD: AND HIS NAME IS CALLED THE WORD OF GOD. (14) And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. (15) And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: And HE SHALL RULE THEM with a rod of iron: And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. (16) And He hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, and Lord of Lords.”

We saw two weeks ago that God has a great deal to say in His Book, the Bible, about Jesus, the Prophet. A week ago we saw that God has a great deal to say in His Book, the Bible, about Jesus as the Priest. But God has a great deal more to say in His Book, the Bible, about Jesus as King than about Jesus as either Prophet or Priest. The Hebrew words, “The Messiah,” and the Greek words, “The Christ,” alike mean “The Anointed One.” Priests and prophets and kings were all anointed in the Jewish economy and therefore the title, “The Messiah” (or, “The Christ”) may be taken to refer to Jesus as Prophet, Priest and King. But the thought of His kingly office is the predominant thought in His most frequently occurring title, “Messiah” or “Christ.” This title is used of Jesus 571 times in the New Testament. (I counted them last Monday night.) Five Hundred and Seventy-one times! Oh, yes, Jesus the Christ is a Prophet, Jesus the Christ is a Priest, but He is pre-eminently THE KING. Yet the average believer knows very little about the Bible teaching regarding the Kingship of Jesus. God grant that we all may know more about it before the close of this service.

I.—WHERE JESUS, THE KING, IS TO REIGN. The first question that arises is, Where is Jesus, the King, to reign? It is upon that point that there is much confusion and much error, but the Bible answers the question with the utmost plainness.

1. In the first place, He is to reign on this earth. This almost every one of our texts declares. Take, for example, our second text, Psa 72:7-8 : “In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more. (8) He shall have dominion also FROM SEA TO SEA, and from the river unto the ends of THE EARTH.” There can be no doubt where that glorious kingdom that Psalms 72 describes is to be. It says in so many words it is on “the earth.” Take our third text, Jer 23:5 : “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and He shall REIGN AS KING and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness IN THE LAND.” This passage leaves no doubt where His kingdom is to be. It says explicitly that “He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness IN THE LAND.” The Authorized Version says “in the earth,” which would prove our point, but the Revised Version is more specific and says “in the land,” i.e., in the land of Israel. We see the same thing in Dan 7:13-14 : “I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there CAME WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN one like unto (the) Son of Man, and He came even to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. (14) And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that ALL THE PEOPLES, NATIONS, AND LANGUAGES should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Here we are distinctly told that the reign of the Son of Man who is to come “with the clouds of heaven” (cf. Mat 26:64), is to be over “All the peoples, nations, and languages,” which leaves no doubt that it is to be here on the earth. But turning to the New Testament we read these words of our Lord Himself in Luk 19:12 : “He said therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and TO RETURN.” This represents our Lord Jesus going to heaven to receive His Kingdom, but when He gets it, “to return” and exercise it here on earth, just as the Palestinian kings of Jesus’ time on earth went to Rome to get their kingdom, but came back to Palestine to exercise their kingship. Listen to our seventh text in Rev 19:11-16 : “And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He that sat thereon called faithful and true; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. (12) And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He hath a name written which no one knoweth but He Himself. (13) And He is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: And His name is called the Word of God. (14) And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. (15) And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should SMITE THE NATIONS: And He shall RULE THEM with a rod of iron: And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. (16) And He hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of lords.” These words clearly represent Heaven opened and the King, Jesus, “The Word of God,” coming out of Heaven with His armies, to this earth to rule “the nations.” It is, therefore, clear as day that His kingdom is not a heavenly kingdom, but an earthly kingdom. It is heavenly in its character, but earthly in its location. Therefore, it is called “the Kingdom of Heaven,” i.e., the kingdom of heavenly character existing here on earth. Jesus Christ is Priest in Heaven. He is King on earth.

2. In the second place, Jerusalem is to be the center of His reign. This we see in our first text, Psa 2:6, “Yet I have set my King UPON MY HOLY HILL OF ZION.” When God says, “Zion,” He means Zion. He does not mean the Dowie Zion near Chicago, and He does not mean the Zion of some writers of silly hymns such as “We’re Marching to Zion,” by which I suppose they meant Heaven. The name Zion (spelled with a “Z”) is found 150 times in the Bible and not in one single instance does it refer to anything but a location in Jerusalem. Last week I read and examined every passage in which the word occurs. Jerusalem then is to be the centre and seat, the throne city, of King Jesus. We find this same fact that Zion in Jerusalem, is to be the seat of the kingdom of King Jesus in the New Testament in Rom 11:26, “There shall come out OF ZION the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness FROM JACOB.”

3. In the third place, while the throne of Jesus’ kingdom is located in Jerusalem, the extent of that kingdom is the whole earth. This we see in Psa 72:6-11 : “He will come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. (7) In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more. (8) He shall HAVE DOMINION also from sea to sea, and FROM THE RIVER UNTO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. (9) They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the dust. (10) The kings of
Tarshish and of the isles shall render tribute: The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. (11) Yea, ALL KINGS SHALL FALL DOWN BEFORE HIM; ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE HIM.” The same thought is found in Isa 2:2-3 : “And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and ALL NATIONS SHALL FLOW UNTO IT. (3) And MANY PEOPLE shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” The same explicit and unmistakable teaching is found in Zec 8:20-23 : “Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; (21) And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of Hosts: I will go also. (22) Yea, MANY PEOPLES AND STRONG NATIONS shall come to seek Jehovah of Hosts IN JERUSALEM, and to entreat the favor of Jehovah. (23) Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, OUT OF ALL THE LANGUAGES OF THE NATIONS, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” The universal, world-wide extent of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus which centers at Jerusalem is also seen in Dan 7:13-14 : “I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto (a) Son of Man, and He came even to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. (14) And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that ALL THE PEOPLES, NATIONS, AND LANGUAGES SHOULD SERVE HIM: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Let me call your attention in passing, to the unity of the prophetic message, the unity of the different books of the Bible, though written at such widely separated intervals of time, upon this subject, as upon every other subject. The unrealized dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Xerxes, Alexander the Great, Augustus, Diocletian, Napoleon and Kaiser Wilhelm of a world-wide empire will be realized at last in One who is fit to exercise such power, King Jesus.

II.—WHEN JESUS SHALL REIGN AS KING. The next question is, When shall Jesus reign as King? This question is answered with unmistakable plainness and explicitness in the Word of God.

1. In the first place, Jesus shall reign as King when He comes again. His own words settle this in Luk 19:11-12 : “And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that THE KINGDOM OF GOD WAS IMMEDIATELY to appear. (12) He said therefore, a certain nobleman went into A FAR COUNTRY, to receive for himself a kingdom, AND TO RETURN.” No one doubts that the nobleman of this Parable of the Pounds refers to Jesus Christ Himself, and in it He tells us that He is going to “a far country,” i.e., Heaven, to get His kingdom from the Father and “to return” when He gets it, and to exercise it when He gets back. The last book in the Bible tells us the same thing in Rev 19:11-16 : “And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He that sat thereon called faithful and true; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. (12) And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He hath a name written which no one knoweth but He Himself. (13) And He is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God. (14) And THE ARMIES WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN FOLLOWED HIM upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. (15) And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should SMITE THE NATIONS: AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A rod of iron: And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. (16) And He hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.”

Any sane interpretation of this passage must make it refer to the return of our Lord Jesus to reign over “the nations” of the earth. Jesus will be King when He comes back to the earth. He was The Prophet when He was here on earth in His humiliation: He is now The Priest at the right hand of the “Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens”: He will be King when He comes back again. The Priest who has atoned for our sins and now intercedes for us in Heaven will rule as King on earth then: and not till then. It is true He reigns in the hearts of His obedient people now, but anyone who will carefully and candidly consider all that the Word of God has to say upon this subject will see that this is not what God’s Word has in mind when it calls Jesus “King.” No, plainly what God’s Word has in mind when it calls Jesus “King,” is His coming reign on earth. “Make Jesus King,” is a favorite phrase with many. Years ago, some Christian young man in Japan sent a cablegram to a convention of students in this country and used three words, these three words, “Make Jesus King.” A thrilling message. But the only way to really make Jesus King is by hastening His kingdom by gathering His people out of all the nations by getting them to accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, until His body is complete, and then He will come and then He will reign: and not till then.

2 In the second place, Jesus’ reign will begin when Israel’s sorrows culminate in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon Israel, and the nations are gathered together against Jerusalem and King Jesus comes to deliver His earthly people. This is very plainly stated in Zec 14:1-4; Zec 14:9 : “Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. (2) For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (3) THEN shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. (4) And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. . . . (9) And Jehovah shall be King OVER ALL THE EARTH: IN THAT DAY shall Jehovah be one, and His name one.” The Jehovah that this prophecy tells us shall be “King over all the earth” in that day shall be Jehovah Jesus, Jehovah the Christ. This we are plainly told in Jer 23:5-6 : “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (6) In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and THIS IS HIS NAME whereby He shall be called: JEHOVAH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

III.—THE CHARACTER OF JESUS’ REIGN.

Now we come to the very best part of this very glad subject, the character of the reign of our glorious Lord. The Bible has very much to say on that all important subject.

1. In the first place, His reign will be a reign of absolutely perfect righteousness and justice. This we see in many passages in the Bible. Perhaps Psa 72:2-7 will answer as an illustration as well as any: “He will judge thy people WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS, and thy poor with justice. (3) The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. (4) He will judge the poor of the people, He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. (5) They shall fear Thee while the sun endureth, and so long as the moon, throughout all generations. (6) He will come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. (7) IN HIS DAYS SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS FLOURISH, and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.” Righteousness and justice shall have a complete triumph when Jesus comes to reign. There shall be no injustice, no oppression of any kind whatever anywhere on the earth. “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa 11:9.)

2. In the second place, His reign shall be a reign of universal and everlasting peace. This we find in the verses just read. Let me read again two of them, Psa 72:3, “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. (7) In His days shall the righteous flourish, and ABUNDANCE OF PEACE, till the moon be no more.” There shall be no more war. There shall be not merely the form and pretense of peace, but real, abiding and abounding peace between all nations. This is beautifully described in Isa 2:4, “And He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY MORE.” We find this fast coming universal and everlasting peace described in almost the same words in Mic 4:2-3 : “And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem; (3) And He will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off: And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY MORE.” Six years ago we flattered ourselves that we had established universal peace by Hague Conferences and by Peace Palaces. We believed, at least those who did not know their Bibles believed, that there would never be another war, at least another great war. Then this most awful war of history broke. Today some are flattering themselves that shrewd politicians and diplomats can form a League of Nations that will end war. Indeed, when we went into the present war, we were told it was “a war to end war.” But no thinking man is as sure of that as he was even a year ago and no one who studies his Bible believes it for a moment. He knows that God’s Word says that, “even unto the end” of this dispensation “shall be war” and that “desolations are determined” (Dan 9:26). He knows that the most awful war of this world’s history is not just behind us but just ahead of us; that Kaiser Wilhelm is nothing either in power or “frightfulness” to Kaiser Anti-Christ, “the Prince that shall come” (Dan 9:26); that The Beast of Berlin is nothing to The Beast of Revelation. But, thank God, he also knows that when God’s own King comes, King Jesus, not President Wilson, President Wood, President Johnson, President Hoover, President Lowden, or President Anybody, but King, KING Jesus,—that war shall be no more. A little while before the beginning of the late war, the Christian Herald of New York wrote to men in different parts of America and England asking them if they believed there would ever be another great war and what they thought of the Hague Peace Conferences and efforts of a similar character. One of these letters of inquiry was sent to me. I replied that I was in favor of anything that made for peace even temporarily, but that I knew my Bible too well to believe there would never be another great war; that I knew from my Bible that the greatest war of history was ahead of us and not behind us. A great many people thought at the time that I was a crank and a pessimist. But here we are, and some people that criticized then have since taken to studying their Bibles. And so today I know from the plain declarations of the Bible that no League of Nations that can be devised by men, no matter how lofty their purposes may be in their attempt to devise it, will end war. No! War will not end until the Prince of Peace comes, King Jesus, to take the reins of government. God grant He may come quickly.

3. In the third place, the reign of King Jesus will be a reign of universal plenty. This we see in the verses immediately following those we have just read, Mic 4:4-7 : “But they shall sit EVERY MAN UNDER HIS VINE and UNDER HIS FIG TREE; and none shall make them afraid: For the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it. (5) For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and ever. (6) In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemble that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted; (7) And I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Jehovah will reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever.” The significance of these words, especially the fourth verse, is plain. No man will be at the mercy of a landlord, “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree.” All the loftiest dreams of social philosophers and philanthropists and all other “men of vision,” will be realized in the reign of King Jesus.

4. In the fourth place, it will be a reign that has a special regard for the rights and the interests of the poor and the oppressed. This we see in Psa 72:2; Psa 72:4; Psa 72:12-14 : “He will judge thy people with righteousness, and THY POOR with justice. . . . (4) He will judge THE POOR OF THE PEOPLE, He will SAVE THE CHILDREN OF THE NEEDY, and WILL BREAK IN PIECES THE OPPRESSOR. . . . (12) For HE WILL DELIVER THE NEEDY when he crieth, and THE POOR, THAT HATH NO HELPER. (13) He WILL HAVE PITY ON THE POOR and NEEDY, and the SOULS OF THE NEEDY He will save. (14) He will redeem their Soul FROM OPPRESSION AND VIOLENCE; and precious will their blood be in His sight.” The good end for which the Soviets in Russia are so blindly and futility striving, the rights and welfare of the poor, will then be perfectly secured; and they will not be secured until then.

5. In the fifth place, it will be a universal, worldwide reign. This we have already seen in speaking of “Where Jesus the King is to Reign,” so we need not dwell on it now. But let me read again Psa 72:6-8, “He will come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. (7) In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more. (8) HE SHALL HAVE DOMINION ALSO FROM SEA TO SEA, and FROM THE RIVER UNTO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.” The final form of Government in every part of this earth is not to be a Democracy, but an Autocracy. No part of the earth in that day is to be ruled by a President, or by a Senate, or by a Parliament, or even by a constitutional monarch, but by an absolute monarch, by a King; but a King who is perfectly fit to reign, which no earthly monarch ever has been; a King who shall reign in infinite wisdom and infinite righteousness and infinite love; the One who died to save all mankind, ruling over all mankind.

6. In the sixth place, the reign of King Jesus will be a glorious reign. Much that has already been said shows that. In addition to that read Psa 72:17-19, “His name shall endure forever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him happy. (18) Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things: (19) And blessed be His glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and amen.”

7. In the seventh place, the reign of King Jesus will be an everlasting reign. This we see in the verses just read and we are told it again and again in the Scriptures. For example, in Dan 7:13-14 : “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto (the) Son of Man, and He came even to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. (14) And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is AN EVERLASTING DOMINION, which shall NOT PASS AWAY, and His kingdom that which SHALL NOT BE DESTROYED.” If possible, the everlasting character of the reign of Jesus is even more explicitly proclaimed in Rev 11:15 : “And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, the kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER.” It is even more plainly stated in Luk 1:32-33, by the angel Gabriel speaking unto the Virgin Mary about her Son who was to be born, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: (33) AND HE SHALL REIGN OVER THE HOUSE OF JACOB FOREVER; and OF HIS KINGDOM THERE SHALL BE NO END.” There is absolutely no escape from the force of these words. But someone will say, what shall we do with 1Co 15:24-25, “Then cometh the end, when HE SHALL DELIVER UP THE KINGDOM TO GOD, even the Father; when He shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. (25) For He must reign, TILL HE HATH PUT ALL HIS ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET.” The answer to this puzzling question, like the answer to most puzzling questions in the Bible, is found in the context. Read the immediately following verses, 1Co 15:25-28 : “For He must reign, till He hath put all His enemies under His feet. (26) The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. (27) For, He put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He saith, all things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who did subject all things unto Him. (28) And when all things have been subjected unto Him, THEN SHALL THE SON also HIMSELF BE SUBJECTED to Him that did subject all things unto Him, THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.” The millennial reign of Christ will come to an end when at the end of the One Thousand Years, the Great White Throne is seen and the last enemy, Death, is abolished, as we are told in 1Co 15:26. This comes out by a comparison of 1Co 15:24-25, with Rev 20:7; Rev 20:11-14 : (7) And when the thousand years are expired . . . (11) . . . I saw a great White Throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand BEFORE GOD; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (14) And death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.” It is then the Son delivers up the kingdom to the Father “who did subject all things (including the last great enemy, Death) UNTO HIM,” and then the eternal reign of the Son begins in eternal subordination to the Father, “that God may be all in all.” (1Co 15:28.) A somewhat well-known teacher of error in trying to explain away the force of the words, “Forever and ever” in Rev 11:15 appealed to 1Co 15:24 to show that the reign of Christ would have an end. But in a distant part of his same essay, he had occasion himself to quote Luk 1:33, “Of His kingdom THERE SHALL BE NO END,” and then in an underhanded way he explained away and sought to cover up all he had tried to show in commenting on Rev 11:15. Ah, there is no getting around Rev 11:15, “The Kingdom of the World is become the Kingdom of Our Lord, and of His Christ: and HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER.” Neither is there any way of getting around Luk 1:33, “OF HIS KINGDOM THERE SHALL BE NO END.” I am glad there is not. I am glad that “the kingdom of this world is to become the kingdom of King Jesus” and that “He shall reign forever and ever.” I am glad that “Of His kingdom there shall be no end.”

One night, many years ago, during my first winter in Chicago, I reached home between eleven and twelve o’clock at night after a very hard day’s work. In order that I might get quieted and fitted to sleep, I sat down and read my Bible. I was reading it through in course (as I always am). I was reading in the last book in the Bible. That book did not mean so much to me then as it does now. Sometimes I almost wished it were not in the Bible. But that is where I was, and, therefore, that is where I read; and as I read, I came to Rev 11:15 and these words loomed before me, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign forever and ever.” Do you know what I did? As you know, I am not a man over-given to emotion or noise, but that night, as I saw that verse and its wondrous message, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign forever and ever,” I shouted, “Hallelujah!” Ah, but how much more it means today than it did in that day; today, after this awful war, after this collapse of human kings and human government, after this complete failure of human diplomacy, autocratic or democratic, in this time when thoughtful men are wondering what shall come next, this time when “men’s hearts are fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world” (Luk 21:26). Oh, the joy; oh, the radiant, unconquerable optimism that results from believing these precious words, “The Kingdom of the World is become the Kingdom of Our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign forever and ever.”

What shall we say to the coming King? Ah, there is only one thing we can say, and that cry should rise today from our hearts in a loud, swelling chorus “Amen: Come, Lord Jesus.” “Come quickly.” (Rev 22:20.)